With a view to strengthen their parties’ position among the tribal vote base, Chief Ministers of the two tribal-dominated States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand did a ‘jugalbandi’ by playing traditional musical instruments at the National Tribal Dance Festival in Raipur on Thursday.
When Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren started playing the thoddka, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel joined him with a traditional trumpet turhi at a stall where several musical instruments of indigenous communities were on display, an official said.
Both Mr. Soren and Mr. Baghel understand that tribal electorate can play an important role in government formation, local bodies and in panchayat polls in their respective States.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress-led alliance swept the tribal belts in Jharkhand. The alliance bagged 25 of the 28 Scheduled Tribe seats.
The BJP won only two seats and by the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) bagged one.
In the 2018 Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, tribals showed a clear shift towards the Congress. The seats with major ST population contributed in a big way to the Congress’ sweeping victory.
The party was led by the then State chief Bhupesh Baghel. It won 25 out of 29 ST reserved Assembly seats while the BJP managed only three and Ajit Jogi’s Janata Chhattisgarh Congress (J) got one.
Addressing the gathering during the inaugural ceremony on the dance festival on Thursday, Mr. Soren praised the efforts of Chhattisgarh Government in preserving the culture of the indigenous communities of the State.
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